FINS TO THE LEFT, FINS TO THE RIGHT
The American Cetacean Society needs help with its quarterly coastal bottlenose dolphin census, which is conducted from the beaches and bluffs of Orange County. The census will occur from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. But if you want to participate, you need to attend an orientation session Thursday night at the Costa Mesa Neighborhood Community Center, 1845 Park St., Costa Mesa. The orientation starts at 7:30 p.m. By the way, the ACS’s Web site has a wonderful guide for teachers who are focusing on dolphins.

YOU’VE GOT TO HAVE HEARTJames Antaki, a renowned Carnegie Mellon University bioengineer, will appear on the “Science and Society” radio show at 1 p.m. today to talk about developing heart pumps that aid children and infants who have heart disease. He’ll also discuss biomedical tools that could improve heart surgery. If you miss the show, it’s always available as a podcast. Click here.

PELTASON ON THE MENDJack W. Peltason, UCI’s second chancellor, is recovering from having a pacemaker placed in his chest in mid-December. “I’m feeling fine,” Peltason, 82, told us this week, which is when we found out about the surgery. He also suffers from Parkinson disease, a progressive brain disorder that can affect the entire body. Peltason, who first served as UCI’s chancellor and later as president of the UC system, said that he felt well enough over the New Year’s holiday to take a cruise with his wife Suzanne to celebrate their 59th wedding anniversary.

Peltason is a classy, humble man who presided over one of the largest and most important periods of growth in UCI’s 40-year history. He’s also funny and self-deprecating. Asked about his recent health problems, Peltason said, “When you’re 82, you’re in bonus years. This is overtime.”

INSIGHT ON AUTISMFrancesca Happe, one of the world’s leading authorities on autism, will discuss the latest research on the disorder at 7:30 tonight at Barclay Theater, UCI. Happe, a cognitive scientist at King’s College, London, will likely answer questions from members of the audience.

TOTALLY OUT THERE
Finally, for those of you captivated by the cosmos, make plans to swing by Room 101 of UCI’s Rowland Hall at 3:30 p.m. Thursday. Mark Morris, an astronomer at UCLA, will give a talk titled “A New Twist on the Magnetic Field at the Galactic Center: An Astrophysical Double-Helix.” Not really sure what that means. But it sounds interesting.